Here in MN they've taken to canceling school because of the cold, not just snow. They never did that in the 1970's or 80's and I never heard of any of my classmates suffering from exposure back then. I think the kids are still smart enough to layer up when it's -25 F windchill. Maybe the current superintendent isn't from around here.

SewerSquirrels:Here in MN they've taken to canceling school because of the cold, not just snow. They never did that in the 1970's or 80's and I never heard of any of my classmates suffering from exposure back then. I think the kids are still smart enough to layer up when it's -25 F windchill. Maybe the current superintendent isn't from around here.

People weren't as lawsuit-happy in the '70's and '80's. It's all about the lawyers.

That I know of, we Floridians are not used to snow so we aren't prepared for even the smallest amounts. Now hurricanes are a different story. We are used to those and are prepared for them. Now look at the North Eastern US after Sandy. They are not used to hurricanes and look what that storm did.

/had many of cancelled school days due to tropical storms and hurricanes.//Hurricane Football was so much fun to play!

As usual, California laughs at everybody else's snow shenanigans. I think it snows once here every five years, for about an hour at 3 am. Best yet if you want to do winter type activities, there's plenty of snow in the mountains an hour north of here.

Frozen Donkey Wheel:SewerSquirrels: Here in MN they've taken to canceling school because of the cold, not just snow. They never did that in the 1970's or 80's and I never heard of any of my classmates suffering from exposure back then. I think the kids are still smart enough to layer up when it's -25 F windchill. Maybe the current superintendent isn't from around here.

People weren't as lawsuit-happy in the '70's and '80's. It's all about the lawyers.

Geotpf:As usual, California laughs at everybody else's snow shenanigans. I think it snows once here every five years, for about an hour at 3 am. Best yet if you want to do winter type activities, there's plenty of snow in the mountains an hour north of here.

One-quarter of inch of rain is usually enough to cause panic in Southern California.

MindStalker:Funny thing, this map also sorta lines up with politics as well. Imagine if snow removal was left to the free market and you had to pay for your own snow removal. How the fark would that even work..

//Northern states probably spend a pretty huge chunk of their state budget on snow removal as well.

According to this Detroit Free Press article, Wayne County (the county Detroit is in) has already spent $7 million on snow removal this winter. And Oakland County, a neighboring county to Wayne, has gone through 56,000 tones of salt to deice roads.

I never had a snow day growing up (although one would have been very unlikely during the two and a half years I lived in Australia). Canadians know how to deal with a bit of frozen water (unless they're in Vancouver or Toronto).

The university I teach at did, however, cancel classes for the first couple of days this semester when blizzard conditions made it impossible to get to campus. They cancelled classes again this Monday, but only for the evening, because another blizzard was coming and the sun sets at about 4:30, and they wanted to be sure all the rural students could drive home on shiatty back roads without dying. Of course, the cancellation was made right in the middle of my lab.

Polish Hussar:MindStalker: Funny thing, this map also sorta lines up with politics as well. Imagine if snow removal was left to the free market and you had to pay for your own snow removal. How the fark would that even work..

//Northern states probably spend a pretty huge chunk of their state budget on snow removal as well.

According to this Detroit Free Press article, Wayne County (the county Detroit is in) has already spent $7 million on snow removal this winter. And Oakland County, a neighboring county to Wayne, has gone through 56,000 tones

In Massachusetts you lobby the town to plow your driveway. In practice this means you have to have a shared driveway, which makes it a private road. Private roads can be maintained in the interests of public safety.

Meanwhile, the government contracts plowing to private drivers rather than maintain a plow force capable of doing the job. Your driveway may be plowed by a private contractor at government expense.

A former high ranking DOT official is awaiting trial on charges of conflict of interest. He allegedly awarded plow contracts to a company he had a financial interest in.

In Massachusetts you lobby the town to plow your driveway. In practice this means you have to have a shared driveway, which makes it a private road. Private roads can be maintained in the interests of public safety.

Meanwhile, the government contracts plowing to private drivers rather than maintain a plow force capable of doing the job. Your driveway may be plowed by a private contractor at government expense.

A former high ranking DOT official is awaiting trial on charges of conflict of interest. He allegedly awarded plow contracts to a company he had a financial interest in.

Yes, but I couldn't imagine the insanity of a patchwork of buyers each paying for different roads/expressways being plowed. As for neighborhoods, yes it is often handled by the individual neighborhood association.

Frozen Donkey Wheel:SewerSquirrels: Here in MN they've taken to canceling school because of the cold, not just snow. They never did that in the 1970's or 80's and I never heard of any of my classmates suffering from exposure back then. I think the kids are still smart enough to layer up when it's -25 F windchill. Maybe the current superintendent isn't from around here.

People weren't as lawsuit-happy in the '70's and '80's. It's all about the lawyers.

Well, personal injury lawsuits have been dramatically declining since the mid-1980s. Only about 5% of civil court cases involve personal injury. The courts are primarily clogged up with lawsuits between businesses (which sounds about right).

MindStalker:Funny thing, this map also sorta lines up with politics as well. Imagine if snow removal was left to the free market and you had to pay for your own snow removal. How the fark would that even work..

//Northern states probably spend a pretty huge chunk of their state budget on snow removal as well.

You don't think landscape companies in snow country do nothing in the winter do you? They all have plows for their trucks. There's good money to be made removing snow.

I remain baffled at our school district...the multiple day closures for a single day event seem unncessary. First day...yeah, we don't have the fleet of plows needed to clear every single road, so I get it. Second day...a bit on conservative side, as most people are expected to return to work. Third day....seriously?!?! If the excuse is that buses may have trouble on the residential streets, just make the parents bring the kids in. Sorry its an inconvience because you normally rely on the buses, but how is that worse than having to take off work to stay home with the kids?

This map is completely inaccurate... Colorado is listed as a "high snow" state. I've never seen a place that is supposed to get snow get as as paralyzed as friggin' Denver... I remember one time in Flag where we got about 3 ft. over the course of the week, and Denver shut down over 6".

Smeggy Smurf:You don't think landscape companies in snow country do nothing in the winter do you? They all have plows for their trucks. There's good money to be made removing snow.

Here, I've heard the landscape companies state that they make more off of snow removal than the growing season.

Bondith:The university I teach at did, however, cancel classes for the first couple of days this semester when blizzard conditions made it impossible to get to campus.

Yeah, University of Utah did it a couple of times when I worked there last winter. Being up on the side of the hill, even though it's a part of the city, they can still get twice or three times as much as the rest of the city. We had a day last winter where it snowed about 18" before they finally decided(At 1 pm) to close for the rest of the day. Part of the problem is access to campus, since it isn't near a freeway, and you have to drive uphill to get there. Unfortunately, the decisions are just as much politics as anything else. We had a blizzard last winter as well. An actual blizzard as it's defined, and they closed early. Everything hit on time, and exactly the way they said it would(Whiteout conditions, couldn't see the house across my street 10 minutes after it started), but since there wasn't 'enough' snow, people complained that the U closed early. The storm his within 15 minutes of when it was supposed to, and it hit during the afternoon commute. If they hadn't closed early, there would have been wrecks all over around the school. So as a result, they wait a long, LONG time to go ahead and close.